Of course, there is no easy answer to that one. This isn't a math problem with a sure solution. Statistics can't determine what Kubiak can or cannot do as a head coach.

Not one Super Bowl-winning coach in NFL history had won the Super Bowl before he, well, won a Super Bowl. So as it stands, Kubiak has to get it done before one can say for sure that he can get it done.

My favorite organization-building guideline comes from a general manager who once told me that if a team doesn't have a top-10 coach or a top-10 quarterback, it should be looking for one.

As with most coaches, the public's perception of him as a head coach improved as his team's record improved, which improved as his players improved. But Kubiak is also a much better coach than he was three or four years ago.

This is the right time for him to be at his best.

The Texans open the 2013 season at San Diego on Monday with the best roster the organization has ever had, a Super Bowl-caliber roster that deserves a Super Bowl-caliber coach.

On any given Sunday, Kubiak is among the best in the business, but right now his résumé isn't good enough to earn him a top-10 ranking. There is no question he is a top-10 offensive coach.

Belichick, with five Super Bowl appearances in the last 12 years, is an automatic as the NFL's best overall head coach.

Tom Coughlin, John Harbaugh, Mike McCarthy, Sean Payton and Mike Tomlin, who have all won Super Bowls since Kubiak took over the Texans in 2006, are consensus top-10 coaches as well.

While I prefer not to give lifetime achievement awards, it is hard to argue against the inclusion on any top-10 list of Mike Shanahan, Kubiak's mentor and a two-time Super Bowl champion, and Andy Reid, who took the Eagles to five NFC Championship Games and a Super Bowl before his team fell apart the last two seasons.

As is, we're already eight coaches in, and we have yet to include another automatic choice in Jim Harbaugh, who has been in the league only two years but had the 49ers in the NFC Championship Game in 2011 and the Super Bowl last year.

The 10th slot has to go to John Fox or Mike Smith, whose Broncos and Falcons tied for the league's best record a year ago. Fox led the Panthers to a Super Bowl and another NFC title game. Smith has had disappointing postseasons with Atlanta, but he has twice as many playoff appearances, with almost as many regular-season wins and half the losses as Kubiak.

Kubiak fits in the next group - at the top of it, actually - with Jeff Fisher, Pete Carroll, Marvin Lewis and Rex Ryan. Yes, Ryan too.

A better Kubiak

While Ryan may have a couple of AFC title game appearances to his credit, the mess he has led with the Jets the last couple of years leaves him as just the second-best NFL head coach to attend his son's football game on Saturday. (Kubiak went to College Station to check out his son Klein, a senior receiver for Rice.)

What does it all mean?

Not much.

Yes, there are coaches out there who would be an upgrade over Kubiak. But history tells us Kubiak is an upgrade over the Kubiak he used to be.

And that guy has been pretty good of late.

A career year for him will bring a different answer to the question of whether the Texans have a top-10 coach.

Listen to The Rush with Jerome Solomon and Dave Tepper weekdays from noon-2 p.m. on ESPN 97.5 FM.